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RopeCon 2013, part Sunday (MustaJumala)

Ah, Sunday… Breakfast was mediocre again. I guess bacon tastes pretty good, even if it isn’t crisp, but there’s just this idea in the back of your head that it might not be edible, even though it clearly is cooked. I was thinking about going to a lecture, but turns out one of our party wasn’t feeling well for some peculiar reason, so I took over his GMing slot at the last minute (actually about 15 to 20 minutes late, but anyhow). The lecture was shit anyhow, according to Lauri, if we were talking about the same thing.

Again With the Quiet,
or
A Year of Religious Schism

The game I ran was the same game I participated in on Friday, The Quiet Year. This why I questioned the replayability. Yes, many things were very different, but often there were similar patterns, because the cards often take you into the same direction.

Not to fault the players. They were very patient with the hassle in the beginning and despite the cards pulling them into the same direction as the last group, they kept it interesting. Less fantastical, even with mutant dogs and dwarves living under a mountain kidnapping our kids, but still, less fantastical than the kraken. Again, religion had a major influence on the game. Throughout the year, the animistic and the Christian elements of the community fought over everything, but in the end, the animists slaughtered all the Christians, despite their own inner conflict between their leading figures known simply as the High Shaman and the Ugly Shawoman.

All in all, somewhat less raucous then the Friday game, but no less enjoyable, with a somewhat more coherent plot. Either way is fine and in both games people did seemed to learn during the game that although the community would fight for their survival the best they can, we as players shouldn’t be bothered about their survival, because they’ll just die in the end any how.

The Sealed Deck Challenge,
or
The Big Mess

While I was running the game, my friends had decided to get some booster packs of M14 and play a sealed game. Actually, one of them was sleeping on the lawn in front of the building where all this was happening. Poromagia was selling packs at a discounted price, so why not join them. Buying packs is generally not advisable, but playing limited (draft or sealed) is good value.

Not really knowing anything about possible archetypes in the format, I felt I had a weak pool. I went for a strategy of keeping the opponent at bay with plenty of green blockers on the battlefield and a few white fliers with some enchantments to back them up. Nice, in theory. I just didn’t draw any of the flier in any of the three games I played.

First game was a disaster for me. I had a pretty poor opening hand, with only a Gladecover Scout, some things to throw on it and land. Then things got worse, as I only drew land for the rest of the not very long game. I took out some of the manafixing, which I had left mistakenly, as I dropped my third color late in the process, and went back in.

Now, my opponent was completely manascrewed. He had two plains on the table, which let him slow me down considerably with three Pacifisms. Still, it might have been slow, but my win was inevitable. Turned out my opponent had messed his mana and didn’t actually have much of it in his deck.

Well, after two disastrous games, the third one seemed to stall. Neither of us really got anywhere. This is the problem with sealed. I didn’t get any very good bombs (some pretty good ones, though), so I couldn’t really finish the game without grinding my opponent down with small steps. He, on the other hand, had a Millstone. I did manage to win after his patience dried out.

That was the only match I played, as my ride was leaving.

Final Words

I had fun. The real hero of the Con was probably Buried without Ceremony, the company behind both The Quiet Year and MonsterHearts, but I feel I got pretty lucky with the games I played and the people I played with.

Hint: Avoid fantasy games, if you want good roleplay. I went to the Barbarians of Lemuria game only because I knew the GM and have trust in his ablities. Otherwise, just stay away from them.